Background and aims: Despite a decreasing incidence of primary gastric carcinoma over the last decade, the incidence of early gastric cancer has remained unchanged. Some aspects of the surgical treatment (e.g., extent of resection, lymphadenectomy) are still controversially discussed in the literature.
Patients/methods: Between May 1986 and July 1999, 87 patients were operated upon due to primary early gastric adenocarcinoma. All patients data were analyzed retrospectively.
Results: Of 626 patients with primary gastric carcinoma, 87 (13.9%) had an early carcinoma (54 men, 33 women; median age 61 years). In all patients, curative (R0-) gastrectomy could be performed, total in 62 patients (71.4%) and subtotal in 25 patients (28.6%). Postoperative morbidity was 23% and mortality 4.5%. Mucosal tumors were found in 34 (39.1%) and submucosal in 53 (60.9%) patients. Multicentricity was present in eight cases (9.1%). Twelve patients (13.8%) had lymph-node metastases. The 5-year survival rate was 88.8%. The submucosal infiltration, the lymph-node infiltration, the histological type, and the tumor size had no statistically significant impact on prognosis.
Conclusion: Radical resection of early gastric cancer cured most of the patients, irrespective of lymph-node metastases or tumor size. Multicentricity, increasing incidence of proximal cancers, and low mortality suggest that total gastrectomy may be indicated. Patients with early gastric cancer may benefit from D2-lymphadenectomy, but this has to be assessed in further randomized studies, in particular for those with small mucosal tumors.